Golf putter



June 11, 1968 c. G. RAUB 3,387,845

GOLF PUTTER Filed Oct. 5, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 2/ J INVENTOR CLIFFORD"Al/B J Mw um ATTORNEY Filed Oct. 5. 1965 c. G. RAUB GOLF PUTTER 3heets-Sheet 2 PUTT APPROX. HEIGHT ABOVE olsnmcs GAUGE "UMBER cnouno ATSTART or swme FEET A B c o A a c o 3 l2 l2 l2 l2 2%- 2 2 7'; 2 A- l I lI 6 I5 15 15 l5 s a a i 3 z 9 2| l8 l8 l8 7 5 5 5 I2 22 22 22 a a 9 I828 27 2? l3 I3 24 as 3| I5 12- I5 21 as as 191'; n

so as 20 FIG. 7

mvsuron GLIFFORD 6. R408 ATTORNEY June 11, 1968 c. G. RAUB 3,387,845

GOLF PUTTER I Filed Oct. 5, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 no HE'GHT' 10 FIG 8memes 7 VELOCITY OF CLUB- FEET PER SECOND lo q HELGHT- FIG. .9

INCHES 0 5 (o is 2'0 25 so LENGTH OF ROLL- FEET INVENTOR CLIFFORD RA UBATTORNEY Unite States Patent 3,387,845 GOLF PUTTER Clifford G. Raul),611 Twelve Acres Drive, Los Altos, Calif. 94622 Filed Oct. 5, 1965, Ser.No. 493,923 4 Claims. (Cl. 273-77) This invention relates to the game ofgolf and more specifically to a golf club known as a putter, and for agauge means for practice with the putter.

There are many putters on the market, and many more have been designedbut have never been widely available as they did not suit enough golfersfor them to attain popularity.

Common characteristics of putters as presently known are: maximumweight, 02.; length, 34, 35 or 36 inches; the face of club beingpositioned to be vertical, or very nearly so, at impact. A few golfersuse putters to be moved between the feet as though playing croquet.

It has been found that many golfers can get the ball on the green with aminimum of strokes, only to have to use many putting strokes to sink theball in the cup. The reason seems to be the inability of the golfer todeliver the precise force of impact between the club and the ball thatis required by the length of putt.

,It is generally accepted that the head of the putters in use at presentmust be kept close to the ground, the face normal to the desireddirection of roll of the ball. The putter head must strike the ball withthe required force of impact, which, if too weak the ball will not reachthe hole, if too strong, the ball will not drop, but will rim the cup,or even pass directly over it.

Gauges have been proposed for use in practice to indicate the distancethe putter head should be moved in putting. While such gaugesundoubtedly have some use they do not eliminate any of the manyvariables of putting, but only through remembering from stroke to strokehow much physical energy was used starting from some datum on the gauge,finally the golfer gets a "vague idea that he must move the club head alittle farther from a long putt than for a short one, but there is nocriterion for the muscular effort used in moving the putter head. Eachgolfer can learn the feel of putting only by long experience. And hisputting will vary as he becomes fatigued.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a putter that, foralmost all of its use will deliver a desired putting force to the ballregardless of the weight, height, fatigue and experience of the golfer.A ball twenty feet, say, from the cup can, with the club of the presentinvention, be struck with the correct force to roll the ball on a smoothflat green the desired twenty feet. The club of the present inventionwill not, of course, without thought by the golfer, correct for slope ofthe green or imperfections of the green, but the question of how hardthe ball must be hit for a putt of this distance is eliminated.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a gaugeagainst which the club may be positioned in practice to give the exactforce of blow on the ball to propel the ball any required distance. Thisgauge will indicate the same stroke for the same putting distanceregardless of the player using it since it is the club, not the player,that does the work.

Other and further objects and advantages will appear from the followingspecification taken with the accom-' panying drawing in which likecharacters of reference refer to similar parts and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a view of a conventional putter compared to a similar viewof a putter of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the head of the putter of the presentinvention;

FIGURE 3 is a side view of the head of the putter;

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of the putter head;

FIGURE 5 is an elevation of the practice gauge for learning to use theputter;

FIGURE 6 is a plan view of the gauge;

FIGURE 7 is a tabulation of test results;

FIGURE 8 is a chart comparing the height at which the club head startsthe stroke vs. the velocity of the club head at the point of impact;

FIGURE 9 is a chart showing actual test results plotting the height ofthe club head vs. the distance of roll of the ball.

As seen in FIGURE 1 the putter of the present invention is far shorterthan the putters now in use, the putter handle 10 being abouttwenty-seven inches long instead of the minimum 34 inches, While thelength of the handle might be longer or shorter within very narrowlimits it will be understood that a handle length of thirty-four tothirty-six inches, which are the lengths of present putters, is notcontemplated.

Handle 10 is provided with a grip 11 at its upper end and a head 12 atits lower end. The handle is joined to the club head preferably atmid-point of the head to project substantially vertically, when the clubis in use at the impact point between club and ball. The face of theclub at impact is approximately vertical as with known putters. Theshaft of the handle may be Slightly angled to enable the user to see theball and the sighting surfaces, to be described below, from an eyeposition vertically over the ball. This slight angularity would amountto an offset of the handle of about an inch in twenty inches from theclub head. The angle between club shaft and putter head is about 15% inconventional putters.

The club is grasped so that the left wrist is at approximately theextremity of the grip on the shaft when the club head is just clear ofthe ground at the point of impact with the ball. Holding the pivot ofthe left wrist stationary the club head is moved to the right(right-handed player). Since the left wrist pivot is stationary the clubhead swings upwardly in an arc. The club head is moved to a point togive the desired impact on the ball. This point is accuratelydeterminable, as will be explained below, so that when the club is thenpermitted to swing freely pendulum-wise about the left wrist as astationary pivot, the club head falls, to give an impact velocity to theclub head adequate to the distance of putt being made.

It will be understood that letting the club head of the presentinvention fall freely pendulum-wise will always deliver the same blowfor the same accurate back swing, and no muscular effort need be exertedto accelerate the club head. The lack of need for accurate musculareffort is entirely unlike the stroking required with a conventionalputter.

In order to provide the putter of the present invention, it is necessaryto provide a mass of putter head MC that is extraordinarily heavycompared to the mass of the ball MB.

It can be shown by mathematics that the velocity of the club head at thepoint of impact will be the same as the velocity it would have infalling the distance it from the highest point of the swing. The force gacts on the club head vertically downwardly and the vector of force toaccelerate the club head is the mass of the club head times the sine ofthe angle between the shaft of the club and the vertical. It takeslonger for the club head, swinging in its arc, to arrive at the point ofimpact than it would if it dropped straight down, but the velociy is thesame, though the velocities are in different directions. Friction andwind resistance are ignored as they are insignificant.

Several weights of club were tried starting at 20 02., which is theweight of the putters presently in use, and

3 putter heads of 24% 02., 33 /2 02., and 43% oz. It was found that the20 oz. club was too light to give over a nine foot putt, withoutrequiring accurate muscular effort. The 44 oz. putter is approaching thelimit of controllability.

The handle is joined to the head 12 by a squared element 13 that is of,say, an inch length. This squared portion is square with the face of theclub and is preferably located with one face flush with the club face.The top of the club head 12 is flat as shown at 14 and has indicia i5,15 spaced from each other the distance of the diameter of the ball whichis shown as a dotted circle 16 in FIGURES 2 and 4. Preferably the endsof the club head beyond lines 15 and 15' are of a length equal to thediameter of the ball.

The profile of the club may be as seen in FIGURE 3 having a protuberance17 on the rear surface to bring the center of gravity of the clubdownwardly to as near the point of impact between club and ball aspossible.

The bottom edge of the club is generally arcuate across its bottom faceas seen in FIGURES 1 and 2 so that in use the shaft may be held at aslight angle to the vertical, yet the point of impact between club faceand ball will be the same as though the club were held with its handlein a vertical plane. The bottom profile of the club head is curved frontto back to permit a free swing of the club past the point of impact.

The lines on the top of the club and the flats of the squared portion ofthe shaft immediately above the club head greatly facilitate sightingthe club. The extent of the club face being preferably three balldiameters, reduces the error in positioning the club face in a planenormal to the desired line of roll of the ball.

In this application the word ball means golf ball." A different weightball would not have any bearing on the invention, but would only changethe distances that a putter, in accordance with the sub-joined claims,would propel the ball for a given backswing. In playing competitions theballs must conform to a standard. This standard is a ball weighing about1.63 oz. and having a coefficient of restitution of about 0.8.

In FIGURES 3 and 4 additional weights 18, 18 are shown mounted on theback of the club head. Such weights are known for use on golf clubs suchas drivers, but are shown here to stress the need for weight far inexcess of the weight of the presently known putters.

A noted professional golfer describing the putting opertion withpresently known putters, states, I take the blade back eight or nineinches, then concentrate on accelerating to and through the hittingarea, in other words, the

putter, from the backstroke to the hit should pick up i speed. With theclub of the present invention it is not necessary to concentrate on theacceleration. With any known club it is necessary to concentrate onaccelerating the club head when used with a 34-inch long (which is theminimum length) club handle. Use of the present clubs of oz., a pendulumswing cannot be used effectively and if it is, additional impetus mustbe given the club head by use of accurate muscular effort on putts ofover nine feet. Club A in FIGURE 7 weighed 20 02. It was used with ashort handle according to element 10 of the present disclosure.

A pendulum that takes one second to perform one complete oscillation islonger than a pendulum that requires only a half second. From the textbook:

where t is in seconds for a complete oscillation of pendulum L is thelength of the pendulum g=32.2 ft./sec./sec. L=3.4 ft. if t=1 second.

The part of the pendulum swing with which we are concerned is only A ofan oscillation. A pendulum having a 36" or three-foot length wouldrequire a little less than A of a second per quarter oscillation. Apendulum having a length of 2 feet would require a shorter time in theratio of or about .8 so shortening the golf club from 36 (which is onepresent standard length) to 27 would speed up the swing to .84 sec.

Since a pendulum at its natural tempo executes the same number ofoscillations per minute regardless of the weight of the bob or thedistance to each side of vertical it swings, the velocity of the bob, orin this case club head, as it passes the vertical, is increased if thedistance of backswing is increased, because the height to which the clubhead is raised increases along the arc of the swing.

Since the force available to cause the ball to roll across the green,which for the purposes of this disclosure is assumed to be perfectlyflat and in perfect condition, can also be expressed in terms of themass and velocity of the club head, it will be understood that, in thiscase, using a club asv disclosed, having a shaft of abouttwenty-seveninch length, and a club head Weighing, perhaps two pounds,the club head may be moved through an are such that the force developedby the impact of the club on the ball will propel it, say, nine feet,and the same displacement of the club head will always deliver the sameimpact force to give the same distance of roll of the ball on the samegreen. Similarly, the same club C may be displaced to a greater angle toaccurately deliver a blow that will cause the ball to roll, say,twenty-seven feet. Whenever a twentyseven.-foot putt is required, it isonly necessary to have memorized the distance that the club head must bedisplaced to give the impact required for that distance of putt, so itisnot necessary to concentrate on accelerating the club head by musculareffort. The club head accelerates of its own accord dependent only onthe initial displacement of the club head from the point of impact.

Each weight of club has a maximum length of putt beyond which thegolfer, to add distance to the putt, must i add muscular effort to theputting stroke. From FIGURE 7 it is clear that club A with atwenty-ounce head, fails above about nine feet where club D will readilyputt a ball thirty feet without muscular effort on the part of thegolfer.

As stated above, the golfer must know how much back swing to use for therequired distance of putt. A gauge is used in practice to develop skillin using the correct swing.

The gauge is seen in FIGURES 5 and 6, and may, for purposes ofillustration be an ordinary wooden yardstick 19 bent into an arc andheld bowed by a cord 20 secured at each end. Conveniently the cord maybe secured at one end of the yardstick 19 and provided at a suitabledistance 1 with a knot to be slipped into a notch in the other end ofthe yardstick 19. Feet 21 and 22 may be provided that are foldable tolie parallel to the length of yardstick 19. It is seen, then, that uponremoving the string from the notch, the stick 19 will straighten out sothat the device may be folded for placing in a golf bag.

While the indicia on the gauge may be expressed as i the distances to beputted, they may also be in inches of are.

In experiment with putters of the present invention, and using inches ofare on the gauge to indicate the swing used, the results are tabulatedin FIGURE 7:

Putter: Limit of putt (feet) A-20 oz 9 B--24 A oz. 18 C-33 /2 oz 27 D43%oz 3O Without additional muscular effort the 02. club would not propel aball, as in putting, beyond 9 feet.

Without additional muscular efforts the 24% 02. club would not propelthe ball beyond 18 feet.

Without additional muscular effort the 33 /2 02. club would not propelthe ball beyond 27 feet.

The 43% oz. or almost three pound putter will propel the ball feetwithout additional muscular elfort.

The maximum practical swing for any such club was 36" on the arcuatescale of the gauge which gives an elevation of about 20 inches of theclub head above the green.

It was necessary to use a higher number on the gauge, using club A, toget a 9 foot putt than was necessary with B, C, or D. Also,surprisingly, using a still higher number on the gauge did not addsignificantly to the distance.

Similarly it was necessary to use a higher number on the gauge to get an18 foot putt with club B than with clubs C and D, but using a stillhigher swing did not add appreciably to the distance.

Similarly, club C required a higher number on the gauge for a 24-footand required a yet higher swing for a 27- foot putt than club D requiredfor putts of these distances.

In FIGURE 7 the swing of the club is measured against gauge 19 readings.The height h above the green for each swing is plotted against thevelocity of the club head at impact in FIGURE 8 (calculated) and, inFIGURE 9 is plotted against the resultant distance that a standard ballrolled on a flat green that was in good condition.

From FIGURES 8 and 9 it is clear that once the distance of putt isestimated the golfer can deliver the required force of blow to the ballwithout muscular effort other than swinging the club to the appropriateposition for that distance of putt.

Having thus disclosed my invention, I claim:

1. A golf putter having a shaft and a ball striking head presenting afiat face lying in a plane generally parallel to the length of saidshaft, said shaft having a length corresponding to the length of apendulum having a time of oscillation approximately but not in excess of0.84 second, the ball striking head having a weight of from 24 oz. to 4802., whereby the club, in use, swinging as a free pendulum about thegolfers Wrist as a fixed pivot will propel a standard golf ball adistance of at least 18 feet, over a flat green in good condition whenswung from a position with the ball striking head raised to a height of12 inches from the surface of the green.

2. A golf putter having a shaft and a ball striking head presenting afiat face lying in a plane generally parallel to the length of saidshaft, said shaft having a length corresponding to the length of apendulum having a time of oscillation approximately but not in excess of0.84 second, the ball striking head having a weight of from 33 oz. to 4802., whereby the club, in use, swinging as a free pendulum about thegolfers wrist as a fixed pivot will propel a standard golf ball adistance of 27 feet, over a fiat green in good condition when swung froma position with the ball striking head raised to a height of 18 inchesfrom the surface of the green.

3. A golf putter having a shaft and a ball striking head presenting aflat face lying in a plane generally parallel to the length of saidshaft, said shaft having a length corresponding to the length of apendulum having a time Of oscillation approximately but not in excess of0.84 second, the ball striking head having a weight of over 33 02.,whereby the club, in use, swinging as a free pendulum about the golferswrist as a fixed pivot will propel a standard golf ball a distance of atleast 30 feet, over a flat green in good condition when swung from aposition with the ball striking head raised to a height of 20 inchesfrom the surface of the green.

4. The golf club of claim 1 in which the length of the shaft is 27 /2inches.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,703,199 2/1929 McClure 273812,325,525 7/1943 Lukenbill 273-167 X 2,843,384 7/1958 Schmidt 273-167 X3,062,549 11/1962 Duden 273- X 3,188,086 6/1965 Parmley 273-81.33,319,962 5/1967 Summers 27381.3 X

ANTON O. OECHSLE, Primary Examiner.

R. I APLEY, Assistant Examiner.

1. A GOLF PUTTER HAVING A SHAFT AND A BALL STRIKING HEAD PRESENTING AFLAT FACE LYING IN A PLANE GENERALLY PARALLEL TO THE LENGTH OF SAIDSHAFT, SAID SHAFT HAVING A LENGTH CORRESPONDING TO THE LENGTH OF APENDULUM HAVING A TIME OF OSCILLATION APPROXIMATELY BUT NOT IN EXCESS OF0.84 SECOND, THE BALL STRIKING HEAD HAVING A WEIGHT OF FROM 24 OZ. TO 48OZ., WHEREBY THE CLUB, IN USE, SWINGING AS A FREE PENDULUM ABOUT THEGOLFER''S WRIST AS A FIXED PIVOT WILL PROPEL A STANDARD GOLD BALL ADISTANCE OF AT LEAST 18 FEET, OVER A FLAT GREEN IN GOOD CONDITION WHENSWUNG FROM A POSITION WITH THE BALL STRIKING HEAD RAISED TO A HEIGHT OF12 INCHES FROM THE SURFACE OF THE GREEN.